


not even the rain has such small hands

by miss_coverly



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon, Post-Curse, Sick Fic, just a lil angst typical of kyo, spoilers for end of the manga, tohru sitting in kyo's lap is canon as of yesterday so now this fic exists....
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25340518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_coverly/pseuds/miss_coverly
Summary: That's when he hears the sound of rain drumming on his bedroom window. And there's a hollow feeling that comes with that realization. An ache that's different from the one in his shoulder and his rib cage and his fingers.He props himself up on his elbows, determined to get up, and he finds out that he also has a pounding headache. He grits his teeth and gets up anyway, packs his bag and gets dressed for school because that's what normal people do when they're sick.He's supposed to be normal now.--Kyo finds out that the rain still gets to him, and Tohru takes care of him on a reluctant sick day.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou
Comments: 41
Kudos: 236





	not even the rain has such small hands

**Author's Note:**

> based on that new kyoru art by takaya. you know the one. life changing. i stared at it and listened to rain sounds while i wrote this and tbh it was really therapeutic lmao.
> 
> set post-curse, before graduation. title from the poem "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond" by e.e. cummings.

Kyo wakes up feeling like shit.

It starts as just a dull pain in his chest, the premonition of a feeling. What confirms it is when he rolls from his side to lay on his back, and the aches spread throughout his entire torso as he shifts his weight on the futon. He pops his back, willing the pain to fade like it was just part of a nightmare, a distant memory.

He isn't that lucky.

His brain is still addled with sleep, but he runs through the events of the past few days nonetheless, trying to find the culprit. He didn't push himself harder than usual at the dojo yesterday, hasn't gotten into any brawls with Yuki... hell, sometimes he'll pull a random muscle when reaching for something that Tohru needs off the top shelf, but no recent memory of that comes to mind, either. He stares up at the ceiling, and he already knows, of _course_ he knows, but the pieces don't quite click together in a real way.

That's when he hears the sound of rain drumming on his bedroom window. And there's a hollow feeling that comes with that realization. An ache that's different from the one in his shoulder and his rib cage and his fingers.

He props himself up on his elbows, determined to get up, and he finds out that he also has a pounding headache. He grits his teeth and gets up anyway, packs his bag and gets dressed for school because that's what normal people do when they're sick.

He's supposed to be normal now.

The house is only faintly illuminated when Kyo gets downstairs. A look outside tells him that it's past sunrise, but the clouds shadow the atmosphere, rain dripping down in front of the sunlight. It casts the world in muted gray tones, just shy of light blue. The living room doesn't just look like it's vaguely underwater—it _feels_ aquatic, and it weighs on his bones. All-consuming. Confining.

But her voice pierces through the deafening ocean in his ears. "Good morning, Kyo-kun."

The aches don't go away, but he's given a distraction from them as he turns to see Tohru in her school uniform, setting down her frying pan. He feels like he's sinking into the floor, yet she's as light on her feet as ever as she moves towards him. There's a tentative pause when she's in front of him, in the way that they're still eighteen and in high school and everything about this is new and unsure and _scary_ , but then she's wrapping her arms around his middle. He relaxes into her touch when he realizes it's safe, when he doesn't feel the tell-tale signs of transformation.

Maybe some things will never change, Kyo thinks as his hand curls into her hair, but he has this now. That's enough.

Tohru tilts her head up expectantly. He hesitates, then uses his common sense and kisses her forehead instead. She pouts—but it's adorable, so he'll get over it.

"You don't want me getting you sick," he admonishes, giving her cheek an affectionate pat.

Her pout changes into a concerned frown. "You're feeling sick?"

"A little. Nothing too bad, but I'm not taking any chances." But immediately after saying this, he feels a sneeze coming on, so he quickly breaks their hug and sneezes into his elbow, _not_ directly onto her.

Her lips are quirked into a smile when he looks back at her. "What are you feeling?"

He isn't sure how to explain it, and he isn't sure he wants to explain it anyway. He finds himself moving to stand at the cusp of the engawa. Droplets land on his bare feet as he looks out at the rainfall. It's like he's testing himself against it, against what it means.

"Just aches and pains," he responds. "Under the weather."

"Okay," is all she says, and Kyo thinks it feels like falling in love all over again, the way she doesn't mention the rain, how she just lets it rest.

He hears the soft pad of her steps coming towards him, challenging the tempo of the storm. Her fingers wrap around his, and she leads him back inside. "I think you should stay home from school," she says.

"That's silly. I'll be fine."

"Kyo-kun, _please_ , I'm worried about you," and he can't exactly say no to her when she gets like _that_ , looking up at him through dark feathery lashes. Actually being together has only made him worse at saying no to her.

She puts a cool hand to his forehead (her hands are always cold, he's found). He wants to protest, but the ringing in his ears isn't offering him any justification for arguing. "Fine, I'll stay home if it'll make you stop worrying over nothing—" Another sneeze.

Tohru bites her lip. "I'm definitely still worried," she says, and then her eyes light up with an idea. "I know! I'll stay home too."

" _No_. You're not missing school because of me." It's important to her. He can't take that away from her— _like he takes everything away from her_ , the thought quickly spirals.

"Kyo-kun, I _want_ to." And there's that _look_ again, earnest and caring and determined. "Exams have already passed, so it's not like I'll be missing much anyway, really! Yuki-kun said he would've skipped too if he didn't have a student council meeting."

"I don't wanna talk about him, I just woke up and I'm already sick enough."

"Ah-ha!" There's brief excitement in her eyes, but the childlike energy is quickly replaced with a sense of authority. "So you admit that you don't feel well. That means it's a sick day. You should go back to bed, and I'll bring breakfast up when it's ready." And Kyo really does want to put up a fight, but the aches have progressed into the chills. He acquiesces, letting her gently push him up the stairs with a smile on her face.

He flops down onto his futon when he gets back to his room. The rain lulls him to sleep even as it holds him hostage.

* * *

Kyo wakes to a soft knock on the door. He doesn't know how much time has passed; the only difference in atmosphere that he notices is the rain has progressed from a steady storm to a torrential downpour. He hates admitting it, but he _did_ awaken feeling better from the additional sleep. He knows that won't last long. The distant, irregular crashing of thunder tells him that much.

"Tohru?" he calls out in the dark.

She slips through the door with a plate in one hand, a glass in the other. She's changed out of her school uniform, now wearing a pastel pink dress that she's had for years. "It's me," she says, grinning. He rises to a seated position, and she sits down on her knees across from him, setting the plate down between them. "How are you feeling now?"

He shrugs. "A little better." He picks up his plate, adding, "You didn't need to do this."

She smiles at him so simply and says, like it's the easiest thing in the world, "I needed to because I care about you." And something about the way she's sitting in front of the window, water pouring down behind her, makes him think of the beach, where the sun made the freckles on her shoulder more defined, and the ocean framed her in the same ethereal light. And he wonders when she'd started to turn the water into something that wasn't all bad.

A bit softer, she says, "I love you."

Kyo's skin feels hot, and he wants to say it back, but he feels like all the words in the world can't measure up to her simple declaration. He knows he loves her, has for so long that it feels easier than breathing. Having the right to say it out loud is a much newer sensation, and that fear is augmented by the pounding in his skull, like waves crashing down on him. He takes a drink from his glass and prays she hears him in his quiet.

A minute or two of comfortable silence passes before Tohru breaks it. "Kyo-kun..." She trails off without saying anything else.

"Yeah?"

"Just." She pauses, wringing her hands in her lap. She's always done that when she's nervous, he's noticed. "I... if you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

He sighs—at how she's able to dismantle his walls in ways he never thought were possible, the same thing he's able to do for her. How she doesn't see him as a monster, how she never did, no matter what he tells her. And this thing he'd rather die than talk about suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

"I didn't expect for it to make me feel shitty anymore," he finally says. "The rain, I mean."

Tohru just nods at him, nothing but acceptance in her face.

"And I know it shouldn't," he says, "but it just gets me thinking about... if the rain still gets to me... well, what if other stuff starts coming back too?"

She looks at him, eyes clear. "Then we'll figure it out together."

He looks away, eyes tracing the shadow patterns that the rain casts on the far wall. They all look like eyes, glaring back at him. "But that too." He takes a bite of his meal absentmindedly. "You... being here with me," and his voice drops to almost a whisper, "getting to... to get to hold you." It makes him feel gross and vulnerable to keep going—to actually give his nebulous fears form and a voice—but he's this far in, he refuses to stop now. "I never know when it's... when that's all going to be taken away again."

Thunder breaks outside, and with it a sharp pain shoots up his left temple. He clutches at his forehead, submerged in the pain again.

Tohru doesn't say anything, and he's positive that he's said too much and freaked her out. But then she's standing up. He processes in slow-motion as she comes towards him, like he's caught in the tide while she can move freely. He doesn't fully understand what's happening as she steps to one side of him and then lowers herself into his lap, arms sliding delicately up and around his neck.

"What are you doing?" he says, because he has no idea what else to say.

She pauses, a hitch in her voice. "I'm not really sure, but I thought it might help."

"... Okay."

She looks down at him, her brows furrowing and her body tensing on top of him. "Do... you want me to not?"

It's the same as before, as it is every time, where he waits for something he's _supposed_ to believe will never take hold of him again. And even though he's never been lucky before, somehow his luck holds right now, because he's still human, and more than that, she hasn't left.

"No, I was just surprised," Kyo says firmly, fighting against the thudding of his heart beat. "Stay there."

"I will," Tohru says, her voice tender and calm like water running downstream as the storm rages on outside. "I'm here, and you're here, and we're together."

And something about that overwhelms him, the same way that clouds give way to moisture when there's enough pressure in the air. He wraps his arms around the small of her back, burying his face in the hollow of her neck and breathing in. Nothing else feels real except clinging onto each other; it's like they're deep in the middle of the sea, miles away from anything of consequence, completely engulfed. It feels like drowning, but for once it doesn't leave him gasping for air, trying to get back to dry land.

Maybe the rain's effect on him has lessened as the day has gone on, or maybe it's her presence that heals him more than anything. Either way, he feels his strength come back. "Tohru..." he says, looking up to meet her big eyes. "Thank you."

"Of course," she replies, and before he can stop her, she leans down and presses a soft, sweet kiss to his mouth. He tries to look disappointed in her when she pulls away. He's sure he doesn't do a very convincing job.

"Dummy, you might get sick now, too..."

She laughs. "I decided it was worth the risk."

He feels himself flush hot at that, so he presses his face into the space between her neck and chest again, hiding there. Before long her laughter turns to steady breathing, and they curl into each other as they begin to inhale and exhale to the same rhythm. He thumbs at the fabric of her dress, the cotton sliding against the calluses on his palms. The rain outside gets quieter, or at least Kyo thinks it does, as Tohru plays with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Your hands are so tiny," he says against her collarbone, and she giggles.

"They just look that way next to yours."

"Nah, they're definitely really small."

The sound of rainfall on the roof is drowned out by the rise and fall of her chest, and Kyo feels somehow washed away in the tide of her breathing. And he feels safe.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah the last line is a hozier reference...fight me about it...
> 
> jk i hope you enjoyed reading this! i have no idea where this came from because i'm usually NOT a fast writer at all but then churned this out in literally one night. and i'm actually really happy with it! i'm a slut for water imagery what can i say...
> 
> i'm miss-coverly on tumblr! xx


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